Blues boss Paul Jewell said he had "nothing but good things" to say about departing midfielder Grant Leadbitter, who he described as “a terrific professional” despite the former Sunderland man having decided to leave the club at the end of his contract this summer.
Jewell said: "I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Grant Leadbitter, he’s a terrific professional, but the longer it went on the more I realised it wasn’t going to happen.
"He came in and [we talked on Friday] and it’s a big move for Grant, it’s a big stage of his career. We wish him well, we would have liked him to have stayed but the football club moves on.”
The Blues boss says he’d prefer to get his summer signings — he’s targeting around six — as soon as he can but is aware that things don’t always progress as planned: "Ideally, but in this business sometimes things don’t fall for you when you want them to, but we have got a couple of targets we’re chasing.
"Obviously we’ve lost Grant, but we want the spine of the team to be more powerful. I think we’ve been a bit powder puff, to be brutally honest, and players at times have talked the talk but haven’t walked the walk.”
Leadbitter insisted that money wasn’t behind his exit and Jewell says the two didn’t discuss that aspect of his future: "I didn’t get involved in finance, but I guess if we’d offered him 50 grand a week he might have stayed.
"It’s entirely up to Grant. I don’t know whether he’s got something lined-up or not, it’s entirely his call, but if he’s talking about ambition, no one’s more ambitious than me and Marcus Evans, and that doesn’t mean always going out and spending big money on players.
"Grant was one of those brought in on a big transfer fee. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. He’s had a really good end to the season, Grant, and whoever gets him is going to get a decent player.
"And at the end of the day, if he doesn’t want to stay, it’s a good job we didn’t offer him 50 grand a week.”
In terms of adding to his squad over the summer, the Liverpudlian says he’ll be looking at players more in the mould of Andy Drury and Ryan Stevenson with football’s finances going through an adjustment: "I think everybody’s taking a reality check regarding the wages in football.
"The money isn’t about. I’m sick of mentioning Portsmouth and Rangers. It’s right in our faces. We need to get players on sensible salaries with the chance of earning more money if they’re successful, that’s the type of player we’re after. Whether we can get them is up to me.
"We’ve got people like Ryan Stevenson and Andy Drury who are not on big money but they’re hungry and they enjoy being here.
"We know we need quality, we need another striker and midfield player, a centre-half, a goalkeeper. They’re the areas we’re looking to strengthen.”
Regarding the keeper Jewell talked to on Thursday, he wouldn’t be drawn on how the conversation went: "We spoke to someone regarding a goalkeeper. We want a goalkeeper, I think it’s been quite apparent that we haven’t had a number one.
"We’ve had a couple of loanees and Arran’s done OK when he’s come in, but we need a big presence, a number one goalkeeper. I think the spine of the team needs to be strengthened.”
Jewell says there’s nothing new on Portsmouth’s Joel Ward with the 22-year-old’s representative yet to speak to owner Evans: "There’s no news because the agent hasn’t spoken to Marcus. He’s one of a number we’re chasing. I don’t want to dive into something I might regret come the end of the year, but we’d rather do business as quickly as we can.”
There was also nothing new on Tommy Smith’s contract, although Evans is speaking to the New Zealand international’s agent and the matter is expected to be settled soon.
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